Save the Date: Spring Retreat

[Shoka]

Hello all,

The Priests and Unsui would like to offer the opportunity for members to come together for a Spring Retreat the weekend of May 2nd to 3rd (depending you on timezone it might start May 1st). This year the theme will be "We're All in this Together". As with all activities at Treeleaf, the retreat will be all online, no need to venture out to attend!


This retreat will be different format than the Rohatsu retreat; it will run live around the clock for 24 or more hours. So no matter what timezone you are in, no matter if you can join for 10 mins or 10 hours, we will be here.

In a couple days we will post a schedule which might change as we continue to work out the details. But the schedule will consist consist of zazen and ceremony, sitting times, samu session, and "Tea and Coffee Time" for members to get together and chat. The schedule will repeat through out the 24 hour period, so you can join at anytime!

Priests and Unsui will lead many of the sessions, but since just like everyone else we are facing altered work schedules, continually changing circumstances and all that jazz... there may be a few times when one of us isn't available, in those times we will use the Free Sitting Room, Scheduled Sittings Room and Meeting Room to allow members to continue the retreat together.

While there will be some sessions scheduled for specific activities, we really want all members to treat this as a build your own retreat. Some examples of how this could happen are below:

• Do the ceremony and zazen portions only, 6 hour retreat throughout the "day" (which might be over two days)
• Do a half day retreat, start when you can and end during one of the ceremonies or Tea and Coffee Times.
• Do a full day retreat, join us live throughout an entire day.
• Do a samu retreat and join us for the samu sessions, maybe playing with the kids, folding laundry, doing gardening or whatever life has right now. Make it part of the retreat.

The point being to join as you can, where you can, when and how you can. Take what life is giving you right now and make it a part of the retreat. We are all in this together and it is all a part of practice.

Gassho,

Shoka
sattoday

[Sekishi]

w00t! Looking forward to practicing with everyone.

Hopefully Zoom and youtube will be talking to each other again so we can livestream, but if not, we will figure out something.

Deep bows to all,
Sekishi
#sat

[Tai Do]

Looking forward to it.
Thank you for this opportunity!
Gassho,
Mateus
Sat/LAH

[Onka]

YAHTZEE!
Look forward to it. Thanks to all who are pulling this together. Quite an impressive achievement in times of challenge. May the Zoom and YouTube gods be kind to us.

Gassho
Onka
ST

[Yokai]

To everyone setting this up...a big THANK YOU!

FLEXIBILITY = "We're All in this Together"

Gassho, Chris stlah

[Kotei]

Thank you!
Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

[Luigi]

Great! Thanks for the flexibility! I'll try to be there for a few sessions.

Gassho,

Luigi
ST

[Nanrin]

Wonderful! I look forward to hearing more of the details and planning out my participation.

Gassho

Nanrin

Sat today

[Heitou]

Thanks Guys I can't wait.

Gassho
John
SatToday

[Ryokudo]

I will definitely want to spend some time there and if there is anything I can help with, I'd be happy to oblige. I'm on UK time so I am able to add an extra pair of hands during the 24 hour-a-thon

Gassho,

Neilio

SAT/LAH

[Jakuden]

We will put up an official schedule as soon as we have it completed, but so far it looks like this, for those who want to get an idea of how to plan their time:

FRIDAY MAY 1 AT 4 PM PST, 7 PM EST/SATURDAY MAY 2 LONDON 12 AM, SYDNEY 9 AM

Retreat begins with the monthly four-hour Zazenkai. Jundo Roshi will give his Dharma talk at the halfway time, as usual.

This will be followed by 2 hours of Zazen/Kinhin, a rest break, 2 more hours of Zazen/Kinhin, an hour of breakfast/rest/Oryoki, an hour of Samu, and winding up with a tea/coffee/chat break at 11 AM London time.

SATURDAY MAY 2 AT 4 AM PST, 7 AM EST, 12 PM LONDON, 9 PM SYDNEY


We will have an hour of Zazen/Kinhin, followed by a short ceremony to begin the day in the US and finish out the day in Australia, including reading of the disabled ancestors list. This will be followed with a hour of breakfast/rest/Oryoki, an hour of samu, then 3 hour-long Zazen/Kinhin periods, ending with a tea/coffee/chat break at 7 PM London time.

SATURDAY MAY 2 AT 12 PM PST, 3 PM EST, 8 PM LONDON, 5 AM SYDNEY

We will have a Nehan-E ceremony in remembrance of our loved ones and ancestors, who suffered through difficult times. This will be followed by Oryoki/meal break/rest, Samu, 2 hours of Zazen/Kinhin, and then

SATURDAY MAY 2 AT 6 PM PST, 9 PM EST, SUNDAY MAY 3 at 2 AM LONDON, 11 AM SYDNEY

We will have our closing ceremony, followed by Zazen/Kinhin, Verse of Atonement and Four Vows. Retreat will end at 8 PM PST, 11 PM EST, 4 AM London, 1 PM Sydney time.


Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH

[Onka]

Thank you to all involved in organising this.
Gassho
Onka
ST

[Kyonin]

Thank you guys.

Looking forward to sitting with all of you.

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

[Hokin]

Looking forward to sit with you when time may allow! Thank you all for the practice...in advance...!

Gassho
Arya
Sat Today & LAH

[Yokai]

Deep bows Retreat Team for all the behind-the-scenes graft

All I need now is 'World Time Conversion for Dummies'*...although if the room's empty I'm guessing FSR

Off to hire a stunt double

Gassho, Chris stlah

[*Personalised timezone calendar provided? You spoil me!]

[Shoka]

Hi everyone,

Below is the current detailed schedule for the retreat. We are working to finalize the details, so it might shift around a little. Once we have everything confirmed each section will also be put on the calendar for you to easily see all events in your timezone.

In the next day or two we will post the retreat thread with some additional details on planning your retreat and prep videos for Oryoki. But in the meantime, please let us know if there are any questions.


Spring Retreat Schedule:

All Times are approximate, calculated from UK Time (Pacific Time in parenthesis).
All activities will be in the Scheduled Sitting Room unless otherwise noted.
All activities are now listed in the calendar / NOW.

Unit 1: Start of Retreat 4-Hour Zazenkai
Sat 12:00 midnight (Fri 4:00 pm PT) – Sat Sat 4:00 am (Fri 8:00 pm PT)

12:00 - 12:50: Ceremony (Heart Sutra in Japanese/ Sandokai in English) & Zazen
12:50 - 01:00: Kinhin
01:00 - 01:30: Zazen
01:30 - 01:50: Kinhin

01:50 - 02:30: Dharma Talk & Zazen
02:30 - 02:40: Kinhin & Hokey-Pokey

02:40 - 03:15: Zazen
03:15 - 03:30: Kinhin
03:30 – 03:50: Metta Chant & Zazen, Verse of Atonement, Four Vows

Unit 2: Sitting
Sat 4:00 am (Fri 8:00 pm PT) - Sat 5:50 am (Fri 9:50 pm PT)

4:00 - 4:25: Zazen
4:25 - 4:30: Kinhin
4:30 - 4:50: Zazen
4:50 - 5:00: Kinhin
5:00 - 5:25: Zazen
5:25 - 5:30: Kinhin
5:30 - 5:50: Zazen

Unit 3: Rest Period
Sat 6:00 am (Fri 10:00 pm PT) - Sat 6:50 am (Fri 10:50 pm PT)

Take a break

Unit 4: Sitting
Sat 7:00 am (Fri 11:00 pm PT) - Sat 8:50 am (Sat 12:50 midnight PT)

7:00 - 7:25: Zazen
7:25 - 7:30: Kinhin
7:30 - 7:50: Zazen
7:50 - 8:00: Kinhin
8:00 - 8:25: zazen
8:25 - 8:30: Kinhin
8:30 - 8:50: Zazen

Unit 5: Oryoki
Oryoki: Sat 9:00 am (Sat 1:00 am PT) - Sat 10:00 am (Sat 1:50 am PT)

9:00 - 9:30: Prep and set-up time
9:30 - 10:00: Oryoki

Unit 6: Samu
Sat 10:00 am (Sat 2:00 am PT) - Sat 10:50 am (Sat 2:50 am PT)

10:00 – 10:50: Samu

Unit 7: Tea and Coffee Time
Sat 11:00 am (Sat 3:00 am PT) - Sat 11:50 am (Sat 3:50 am PT)

11:00 – 11:50: Join us in the Meeting Room to chat and be together.

Unit 8: Zazen and Short Ceremony
Sat 12:00 noon (Sat 4:00 am PT) – Sat 1:50 p.m. (Sat 5:50 a.m. PT)

12:00 – 12:25: Zazen
12:25 – 12:30: Kinhin
12:30 – 12:50: Zazen
12:50 – 1:00: Kinhin
1:00 – 1:50: Ceremony (Heart Sutra, Disabled Lineage) and Zazen, Metta Chant, Verse of Atonement and 4 Vows.

Unit 9: Oryoki
Sat 2:00 pm (Sat 6:00 am PT) - Sat 3:00 pm (Sat 7:00 am PT)

2:00 - 2:30: Prep and set-up time
2:30 - 3:00: Oryoki

Unit 10: Samu
Sat 3:00 pm (Sat 7:00 am PT) - Sat 3:50 pm (Sat 7:50 am PT)

3:00 – 3:50: Samu

Unit 11: Siting
Sat 4:00 pm (Sat 8:00 am PT) - Sat 6:50 pm (Sat 10:50 am PT)

4:00 - 4:25: Zazen
4:25 - 4:30: Kinhin
4:30 - 4:50: Zazen
4:50 - 5:00: Kinhin
5:00 - 5:25: Zazen
5:25 - 5:30: Kinhin
5:30 - 5:50: Zazen
5:50 - 6:00: Kinhin
6:00 - 6:25: zazen
6:25 - 6:30: Kinhin
6:30 - 6:50: Zazen

Unit 12: Tea and Coffee Time
Sat 7:00 pm (Sat 11:00 am PT) - Sat 7:50 pm (Sat 11:50 am PT)

7:00 – 7:50: Join us in the Meeting Room to chat and be together.

Unit 13: Remembrance and Nahan-E Ceremony
Sat 8:00 pm (Sat 12:00 noon PT) - Sat 10:00 pm (Sat 2:00 pm PT)

8:00 – 8:25: Zazen
8:25 – 8:30: Kinhin
8:30 – 8:50: Zazen
8:50 – 9:00: Kinhin
9:00 – 9:50: Ceremony (Shariraimon in English/ Heart Sutra in Japanese) and Zazen, Metta Chant, Verse of Atonement and 4 Vows.

Unit 14: Oryoki
Sat 10:00 pm (Sat 2:00 pm PT) - Sat 11:00 pm (Sat 3:00 pm PT)

10:00 - 10:30: Prep and set-up time
10:30 - 11:00: Oryoki

Unit 15: Samu
Sat 11:00 pm (Sat 3:00 pm PT) - Sat 11:50 pm (Sat 3:50 pm PT)

11:00 – 11:50: Samu

Unit 16: Sitting
Sun 12:00 midnight (Sat 4:00 pm PT) - Sun 1:50 am (Sat 5:50 pm PT)

12:00 - 12:25: Zazen
12:25 - 12:30: Kinhin
12:30 - 12:50: Zazen
12:50 - 1:00: Kinhin
1:00 - 1:25: Zazen
1:25 - 1:30: Kinhin
1:30 - 1:50: Zazen

Unit 17: Closing Ceremony
Sun 2:00 am (Sat 6:00 pm PT) - Sun 4:00 am (Sat 8:00 pm PT)

2:00 – 2:50: Ceremony (Heart Sutra in Japanese, Sandokai in English, Women’s Ancestry) & Zazen
2:50 – 3:00: Kinhin
3:00 - 3:25: Zazen
3:25 - 3:30: Kinhin
3:30 - 3:50: Zazen, Metta, verse of atonement and 4 vows

Post Retreat Happy Hour
Sun 4:00 am (Sat 8:00 pm PT) - Sun 5:50 am (Sat 9:50 pm PT)

4:00 – 5:50: Join us in the meeting room for a post retreat happy hour.


Gassho,

Shoka
sat/LAH

[Luigi]

Looking forward to joining the retreat Saturday for some time.

Thanks a lot for your effort in preparing all those activities!

Gassho,

Luigi
ST

[Tai Do]

That's great. Looking forward to it. I'll be able to take part in most activities (except for the one on Brazilian early a.m. hours).
Many thanks to all who are making it possible.
Gassho,
Mateus
Sat/LAH

[Sekishi]

Hi everyone,

The calendar is now updated with all 17 "units" of the retreat, along with a "happy hour" after the retreat is over.

https://www.treeleaf.org/now/#calendar

We will also be updating the schedule Shoka posted above sometime today as well (nothing major, just some minor changes).

Gassho,
Sekishi
#sat

[Yokai]

Sekishi, you are Captain Awesome!

Gassho, Chris stlah-ing

[Sekishi]

We will also be updating the schedule Shoka posted above sometime today as well (nothing major, just some minor changes).

This has been done. I only note it in case anyone printed it out or anything.

Gassho,
Sekishi
#sat

[Onka]

I'll be sitting a lot but probably resting more so apologies in advance if I you don't see my mug online.
Gassho
Onka
ST

[Sekishi]

I'll be sitting a lot but probably resting more so apologies in advance if I you don't see my mug online.

I vote for "Come as you are, and sit - however that looks for your body and time." But thats easy for me to say.

Looking forward to sitting with you soon, visible or not!

Deep bows,
Sekishi
#sat

[Wahida]

This is wonderful. Thank you Jundo, Shoka, Jakuden, Sekishi, and everyone involved, and thank you Jakuden for posting about it on Insight Timer! I look forward to joining as much as able, with gratitude.

Gassho,
Wahida
Sat today

[Tai Shi]

I'll be sitting in the face of danger, entering in with joy, for why cry-- aren't we always faced with danger? So, maybe not so much the Hokey Pokey, but lots of joy and freedom. Thank you Shoka, all the Unsui, all friends, let's sit, lets "Jump for Joy," Bob Dylan, and Jundo.
Tai Sh
sat/ lah
Gassho

[Daitetsu]

What a wonderful idea!
Looking forward to join you all!

Gassho,

Daitetsu

#sat2day

[Kyousui]

Great opportunity to introduce my friend, which whom I'm sitting F2F ( we're in rural iowa) to treeleaf!
SAT/LAH

[Tairin]

Hi everyone,

The calendar is now updated with all 17 "units" of the retreat, along with a "happy hour" after the retreat is over.

https://www.treeleaf.org/now/#calendar

We will also be updating the schedule Shoka posted above sometime today as well (nothing major, just some minor changes).

Gassho,
Sekishi
#sat

Thank you for the calendar update. I wasn’t able to attend the entire retreat so relied on the calendar to pick my spots to join in. I don’t know about others here but I have the Treeleaf calendar synced to my mobile so all the Treeleaf events are visible to me all of the time. All time zone correct.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Doshin]

Tairin...how do you sync phone with calendar

Doshin
St

[Tairin]

Hi Doshin

Are you an IPhone or Android user? It will make a bit of a difference. Also do you have a google account? I am assuming yes.

Common steps:
1. Go to the Treeleaf calendar page https://www.treeleaf.org/now/#calendar
2. On the page at the lower right there is a “+ Google Calendar” link. Click on it. That will add it to your available calendars in your Google Calendar.
3. You may need to check the box on your Google Calendar to see the events show up in you calendar.

For Android you should now be done and you should start seeing the Treeleaf events show up on your phone. I can’t confirm this since I am not an Android user

For iPhone you have one more step. Go here https://calendar.google.com/calendar/syncselect and make sure all the Google calendars you want to sync Your iPhone are checked. Hit “save”. My experience is that it may take about an hour before your calendars sync. It really depends on your iPhone configuration.

I hope that helps. If not I can try to post more prescriptive screen captures.


Tairin
Sat today and lah
3.

[Doshin]

Tairin

Got it. Thanks!

Doshin
St

[Meian]

I'm sorry I missed this, but I did not have opportunity to participate on Zoom 2-way. However, it was for a good reason. My kids were home, my daughter's boyfriend was over. My father had called, my husband had arrived home early. So we had a noisy home with music, films, and discussions going on .... almost how things were "before".

gassho, meian, st.

[Nanrin]

Thank you for the calendar update. I wasn’t able to attend the entire retreat so relied on the calendar to pick my spots to join in. I don’t know about others here but I have the Treeleaf calendar synced to my mobile so all the Treeleaf events are visible to me all of the time. All time zone correct.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

Oh wow! This is a great idea. It took me a few tries, but I was able to get the calendars to sync with my Google account, and thus my calendar on my phone. I think I'm going to end up attending a lot more scheduled settings.

Thanks!

Nanrin

Sat today

[Jakuden]

Thanks to Sekishi for his wizardry with the scheduled sitting calendar

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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